Cirencester Town FC
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Cirencester Town FC
The home of football, corporate events, courses and celebrations
Click photo to view a slideshow of photos from the match
Match photos supplied by Graham Hill
The Centurions entertained WESTFIELDS FC at The Talent Hire Stadium in their second home fixture of 2026 and, after a goal-less first period, the game burst into life after Cirencester opened the scoring and the visitors equalised 7-minutes later before a three goal burst, followed by a converted ‘added-time’ Penalty Kick for the hosts, put the game to bed – with Harlie Price adding four more goals to his season’s tally.
Examination of the League Table prior to the game revealed that WESTFIELDS sat in 9th place with 33 points from 23 matches whilst Cirencester sat in 5th place with 44 points from 25 games played. A review of the visitors last five league fixtures confirmed that the visitors have had a tough run of fixtures against teams at the top end of the table having lost to Roman Glass St. George, Slimbridge and Corsham Town, but been victorious against Lydney Town and Hereford Pegasus.
The Cirencester starting line-up had only one change from last week as Elliott Keightley continued at left back - having replaced the injured Jordan Morris early in the match – and his place on the bench was taken by Joe Turley (returning from injury).
The home side kicked-off proceedings, playing towards The Shed end of the ground, in dull conditions for George Peare to launch the ball towards the left corner where Cameron Davis headed back to his ‘keeper Ryan Smallwood to give him an early touch of the ball and he promptly punted it to their left corner where it was worked inside for Dan Cottrill to shoot from 20-yards – blocked but rebounding to Mohamed Djalo who also had a pot at the target with the sting being taken out of his strike enabling ‘keeper Ronnie Newbery to gather.
The visitors were soon back again but this time a goal-kick was the result.
Certainly, a lively start to the match and the Cirencester reply followed immediately as Jack Horrell released Fraser Bell for a run to the right corner and his cross just evaded an incoming Harlie Price at the far-post.
Cameron Davis then sent a pass down the right channel for Dan Cottrill to chase but Newbery had spotted the danger and left his line to bravely dive on the ball at the feet of Cottrill as it entered his box taking a knock in the process.
The visitors had come to play positively and shortly afterwards Zac Powell and Jamie Clark had strikes at the target – with the latter deflected for a corner kick as Elliott Keightley left his flank to cover.
Having survived the initial pressure Cirencester countered as Horrell delivered the ball to the right channel of the visitor’s box where a fast-arriving Jonty Welch headed over the bar and a few minutes later Ed Scott did the same as he headed a Rhys Wells corner kick over from near the Penalty Spot.
Around the mid-point of the half the visitors pressed forward as Zac Powell made a couple of runs down their right flank to deliver crosses into the home box before he combined with Jamie Clark as they exchanged passes working the ball to the right corner.
In this end-to-end match the action then changed to the other end as Welch and Scott headed over the target from balls supplied by Jeremy.
As the interval loomed Powell threatened down the right flank again and Jamie Clark attempted to ‘chip’ an advancing Newbery from the edge of the home box but he caught the ball to launch a counter attack as he punted the ball down the left flank for Jeremy to take to the byline where his cross resulted in a corner kick and a counter in the opposite direction.
It had been an eventful half with plenty of action at both ends but no breakthrough.
Half Time: 0-0
The first half had had a couple of delays to treat injuries and the second half began in similar fashion as Ed Scott landed awkwardly whilst attempting to head a cross away in the opening minutes.
When play restarted Jeremy collected a Newbery punt and took it to the left corner and following a series of throw-ins the ball was eventually cleared down the visitor’s left flank by Dan Bufton and worked across to Powell but his cross was behind the goal. The visitors were soon back again as Djalo cut right and passed the ball to Raiyan Ahmed who shot from the right channel – 25-yards out – but struck Jamie Clark for the ball to be cleared.
Following this initial pressure from the visitors it was now time for Cirencester to respond and this they did as Price darted forward to head a Wells cross over, followed by a Horrell chip being deflected over for a corner kick that resulted in a series of headers in the visitor’s box – the last of which from George Peare was cleared off the goal-line.
Shortly afterwards Bell sent the ball down the right flank where Bufton headed out for a throw-in that was fed to Wells who fired past the far-left post from the right channel front edge of the box.
Despite the pressure increasing on the visitor’s defence, they still managed a couple of swift counter attacks as both Bufton and Jamie Clark reached the left byline but neither resulted in a breakthrough.
As the game entered the final quarter Cirencester were working the ball down their right flank and as they neared the corner Bell sent his throw-in down the line for Aidan Bennett to head on to Welch, who had darted in behind him to the corner, and as he collected, facing the corner flag, he produced a superb cross on the turn that arrowed towards the back post where HARLIE PRICE had read his intentions and was bursting towards the left post to head into the net via the post to finally break the dead-lock 1-0.
Undaunted by the setback the visitors reached their right corner a couple of minutes later for Powell to shoot at the target – caught by Newbery at his left post.
Five minutes after Cirencester scored the visitors equalised as the dangerous ZAC POWELL provided a sensational left-footed, sideways volley from 12-yards out, right channel, that flew inside the left post after play had been switched from right to left for Bufton to cross. 1-1.
Cirencester responded immediately as Welch and Bennett combined to be rewarded with a corner kick that Jeremy delivered to the far-left post where Nick Peare headed wide.
As Westfields worked the ball forward Horrell intercepted to release Bell for another run down the right flank and as he crossed the half-way line he took stock, moved forward a few more paces to deliver a terrific cross towards the far-left post where an incoming THEO JEREMY was arriving at pace to strike a tremendous half-volley, that never left the ground by more than an inch, into the net. 2-1.
Four minutes later HARLIE PRICE scored again as he headed another Bell cross, this time from the right corner, into the net at the back post. 3-1.
A minute before the 90-minute mark Cirencester were awarded a free kick, 25-yards out - right channel, that Bennett and Price lined up to take – Bennett stepped over the ball and HARLIE PRICE took aim before crashing it against the inside of the right post on its way into the net. 4-1.
Due to injuries and substitutions 8-minutes was added to the match time and there was still time for another goal as Cirencester worked the ball forward Bryan Stalley and Jack Freeman exchanged passes as Freeman entered the visitors box to be tripped – Penalty Kick. There was no doubt who would be taking it – HARLIE PRICE stepped forward to smash the ball inside the right post as Smallwood dived in the opposite direction.
Full Time: 5-1
An entertaining game – with plenty of pace and endeavour as the ball moved from end-to-end despite lacking the required finish in the first half as Cirencester’s wayward finishing let them down whilst their defence dug-in at times to keep Westfields at bay.
The game finally came to life in the final quarter with some incredible finishes.
Attendance: 148 Referee: Samuel Walker
CIRENCESTER TOWN:
1. Ronnie Newbery
2. Fraser Bell
3. Elliott Keightley
4. Ed Scott
5. George Peare
12. Nick Peare
7. Rhys Wells
8. Jack Horrell
9. Harlie Price 71,85,89, 90+6P
10. Jonty Welch ©
11. Theo Jeremy 81
6. Kyle Pitts (Ed Scott-87mins)
14. Aidan Bennett (Rhys Wells-70mins)
15. Jack Freeman (Jonty Welch-87mins)
16. Bryan Stalley (Theo Jeremy-89mins)
17. Joe Turley (Nick Peare-80mins)
WESTFIELDS FC:
1. Ryan Smallwood
2. George Clark
3. Rhys Bennett
4. Justice Campbell
5. Connor Davis-Austin
6. Cameron Davis
7. Zac Powell 78
8. Dan Cottrill ©
9. Jamie Clark
10. Mohamed Djalo
11. Raiyan Ahmed
12. Dan Bufton (Rhys Bennett-35mins)
14. Sirdie Grant (Dan Cottrill-70mins)
15. Archie Muirhead
16. Cian Scott (Raiyan Ahmed-76mins)
17. Brandon Jennings (Jamie Clark-85mins)